Tea at Trianon: The Medieval Powerhouse That Was the Kingdom of Bohemia

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, February 8, 2026

The Medieval Powerhouse That Was the Kingdom of Bohemia

From The Collector:

In the 13th century, Emperor Frederick II and his allies were determined to control as much of the Mediterranean as possible. Additionally, the empire faced internal chaos during the Great Interregnum after Frederick’s death. As a result, the Bohemians were emboldened to take as much territory from their neighbors as possible. They hoped to build a buffer zone between their territory and the Mongols invading from the east. In 1241, King Wenceslaus I, Ottokar I’s son, repelled a Mongol attack on Bohemia, ensuring the kingdom’s security.

Wenceslaus’s son, Ottokar II, became king in 1253 and ruled until his death in 1278. He had clashed with his father, even trying to overthrow him in a revolt that failed. As a result of his marriage to Emperor Frederick’s sister Margaret, he became the Duke of Austria, adding this territory to the Bohemian kingdom. Ottokar II was a warrior king who vowed to expand Bohemia’s borders, earning himself the nickname “The Iron and Golden King.” He even sent expeditions to the Baltic Sea, defeating the Old Prussians and establishing a settlement called Královec, now known as Kaliningrad. At the height of his rule, Bohemian territory stretched from Austria to the Adriatic Sea.

However, King Rudolf I, a member of the Habsburg family who prevailed in the Great Interregnum, began to seize Ottokar II’s possessions. He seized much of the territory in Austria conquered by Ottokar and destroyed his army at the Battle of the Marchfield. However, this did not end the Bohemians’ power. Kings Wenceslaus II and III extended their power to Poland and Hungary, setting up the kingdom for its Golden Age in the 14th century. (Read more.)